Utrecht Visscher - 001

[frontier_doktor]

Public | Audio

[His message is quick, because he's nervous and new. Visscher came back for the project to rebuild, just in case more of the same misfortunes happened. He doesn't know if it's a good idea or not, but he might as well reintroduce myself.]

Most of the people I knew when I was first around seemed to have departed.

But I am Utrecht Visscher. I am a qualified physician in my universe, and a general practitioner by interstellar standards.

It's a pleasure and I will do my best to assist.

Comments

[truth_is_the_enemy]

My German accent was always terrible anyway. I spent some time in old Germany after the war, and the locals were all very polite and never once mocked me for my mangling of their language, but I could tell in the way they often asked me to repeat myself or kindly told me that we could converse in English instead.

Well, Doc Visscher, I appreciate a person who can go into a job and hit the ground running. So I'll see you tomorrow.

[frontier_doktor]

We were very polite on my colony, but Germany, either young or old, was not a place I had the luxury of visiting in person.

I will be glad to see your progress. [Hopefully it's as he says it is.]

[truth_is_the_enemy]

It's a beautiful county. Central Europe largely escaped the ravages of the war and the terraforming. Berlin and Hamburg were hit pretty hard, but Stuttgart and Munchen [He fails to pronounce the umlaut that ought to be there.] were hardly touched at all. It was good to see all those old buildings still standing.

[frontier_doktor]

[Oh dear, he's trying. But Visscher reminds himself that he's actually perfect at English. His own "th"s lean towards "z" or "d" often, and he has to remember the sound for "j". It takes effort. So he just lets it slide for now. It seems impolite to correct people when first meeting them.]

I'm sorry to hear so much was destroyed.

[frontier_doktor]

[Visscher takes a while to show up, mostly because he has to read up on the race and figure out he has to go to the farms where most of the animals too large to stay within the town proper are kept. He looks around for Wander there, trying to find him- which is difficult, as Wander is a tiny fellow despite his big personality.]

[folkscallmewander]

[Wander may be difficult to find among the herd of exotic and strange animals, but if Visscher takes the time to stroll through the stalls, he eventually finds the section marked especially marked for the creatures that are to be used in the upcoming race.

One animal that sticks out in particular is a huge, dirty white grub moving around in its stall, focused on something else that's inside with it.]

[truth_is_the_enemy]

We'll rebuild. Europe always does.

Speaking of which, was your home colony all Germans in space, or were there other European nationals, Danes or English or Scots in space there as well?

[frontier_doktor]

[The grub is pretty distracting- it is grotesque, but Visscher knows that's a visceral human reaction. He's met sentient species that have grubs as their children, so he tries to suppress the feelings whenever they bubble up.]

[And he's glad that he does, because there is Wander in with it.]

Oh! I see you're making a friend.

[frontier_doktor]

A good thing, too.

Braunschweig was home to many Northern Europeans, but eastern and western districts were substantially smaller.

[domesheriff]

Oh. [that explanation is clearly a relief] I hadn't heard about that. Were you home long before they found you again?

[truth_is_the_enemy]

That would sure solve a lot of problems back home, if we had the technology to go out, colonize other worlds. Hand the tech know-how to the Votans and tell them that they can go off and make themselves a new homeworld, one that isn't already occupied by an indigent species. Maybe if their ark ships had been delayed a couple of centuries things could have been very different. Too late now, I suppose. A lot of Votans have been born on Earth now and it's the only home they've known. I don't imagine they'd want to leave.

[frontier_doktor]

Not really. Because I uh... don't like to stay in one place very long.

I moved on. So if someone did come after me where I was, they wouldn't have found me.

[frontier_doktor]

Most of the space stations I have worked on have been mixed.

[truth_is_the_enemy]

I think the idea of mixed species living together is fine in theory, and I've seen it work on a small scale, a town here a settlement there. But when the Votans came, Earth was reaching its limit in land and resources just to support the human population. Add the population of the multiple habitable planets of the Votanis System to that, and it was never going to work. Not without an enormous drop in population. Which, in the end, is what we got.

[frontier_doktor]

Which is unfortunate.

[He feels a clenching on his back, more along the thoughts of wasted resources, but he doesn't want to address it just yet.]

Especially as Earth was already reaching its limits.

[truth_is_the_enemy]

There's more tragedy than one can count. But it's done and gone now. Earth is a new world.

[givessweetness]

Hello, my name is Wynter. What do you mean by interstellar standards?

[frontier_doktor]

I am a xenophysician. My expertise isn't exclusive to one sapient species.

[frontier_doktor]

You sound as though you very much miss the old one.

[givessweetness]

Yes, I understand the definition. I'm sorry, but I was looking for more information than that. What kinds of species, how much variety and so on.

[frontier_doktor]

If I'm given suitable preliminary information, almost any species. My particular expertise was in pachyderms, arachnid and crustacean based life forms, various mammalian and avian carnivores, and a few others. My work with reptilian life could still use some practice, but I am actively studying it.

[givessweetness]

I see. Interesting. Thank you.

[domesheriff]

Got it. Disaster aid, you said? [she can't really imagine that sort of lifestyle. coming here has been the first time she's been uprooted in her life] This place has been in need of that lately, but things are getting better again.

[impossibilities]

It's complicated. I agree... I did enjoy our talk, however short it was. It has been a long while since I enjoyed meeting new people.

[frontier_doktor]

I'm sorry if I am slightly awkward. I am not very good with new people myself, even if I enjoy company.

[Social anxiety does that to people.]